Food – Eating/Production

The republican-led House of Representatives voted this past summer to end the requirement that meat labels must state where the meat is from. As Bill Maher puts it, the new bill should be called the “Freedom From Information Act”.

We have a responsibility, to ourselves and society, to be as well informed as we possibly can in order to prevent companies from taking advantage of us. Within this vast corporate, money-driven world of America, the self-interests of companies outweigh the health and safety of its citizens, all in the name of profit. We allow them to put our very lives and health at risk with our ignorance, when we decide we’d rather not know the true facts because the taste of that hamburger, for example, in that moment, is more important. We are better than that. A single hamburger today, can contain meat from over a hundred cows. What else should we allow to be hidden from us?

At the very least, defend your right to know. Demand your freedom to access information about what you put in your mouth, even if the information isn’t easy to swallow. We cannot continue to be so easily content turning a blind eye, the consequences are too great. This new bill infringes on safety and the consumers’ most basic rights. As Bill Maher so eloquently put it, “regulations are supposed to protect people from corporations, not corporations from people.

It is easy to feel powerless by how much you can do and how much change will occur with our currant political landscape. However, you make yourself more powerful by staying informed and showing an example for others. People take notice when others start to. It’s a sales pitch the government and corporations are creating for the sake of profit. Don’t let them sell you bulls**t when it comes to purchasing your food. Stay aware and connected to what’s really going on and make informed decisions. Maintain your freedom to know.

We want what we can’t have. The saying that is usually reserved to describe the trials of love or yearning for objects and aspirations out of reach, but in this case, I’m referring to food of course. A familiar inner voice appears in your head convincing you to give into temptation as you fixate a longing gaze and a watering mouth on a certain food item you know you should refrain from, that you try desperately to stifle and silence. It seems like a cruel joke how the appeal and desire emerges ever more strongly, accompanied with a heightened sense of attention and awareness, when restraining one-self. Lately, fueled by frustration from struggling with non-vegan food cravings, the inner workings of self-control and the implications of having a lack of personal discipline have been heavy on my mind, striking my curiosity. It’s the ultimate test of willpower at play that all of us grapple with in various aspects of our lives on a daily basis.

What I learned is willpower has, in fact, recently been discovered to be more than a mere metaphor. Scientists describe willpower as being a form of energy in the brain, similar to a muscle. Willpower can be strengthened with practice and use, however, it also progressively gets fatigued and decreases with use throughout the day. Whether it’s resisting food, decision-making, or completing a dreaded task, exercising self-control in different areas of your life ends up drawing from and draining the same source of mental energy. The key is in conserving your willpower for matters of importance, since you only have a finite amount of it each day. Simply putting food you’re resisting near to you, in your sight, aides in depleting your willpower. Whereas putting it across the room from you or not having it in your presence at all, makes restraint far easier because you are not actively resisting the temptation. A study even concluded that workers in an office ate a significant more amount of candy when it was placed on a desk inside a clear, glass bowl versus a non-transparent bowl. Proving the out-of-sight-out-of-mind technique to be an effective strategy.

These findings came as no surprise to me, whose battle to follow a vegan diet while still in New Hampshire, came to be an impossible feat for me. Surrounded by non-vegan food not only at home and gatherings with friends, but also at the restaurant where I worked, I was constantly being challenged. Even after watching those horrid videos of farm animals being cruelly abused and slaughtered, I was hopelessly only able to uphold a vegan diet for a meager day or so, until I gave in and let all of my old habits and diet come rearing back in. Utterly discouraged, I concluded my goal to go vegan could not realistically be reached until my impending move to Hawaii. Where I’d be removed from my routines, the lure of my refrigerator, my mother’s cooking, the quantities of rich food available at the restaurant I worked for, and all the other surrounding influences and temptations that seemingly held me hostage. I’d be able to start from square one moving to Hawaii with the most extreme and ideal out-of-sight-out-of-mind set up available to me.

I then had about a four month long postponement period before Hawaii and a vegan lifestyle that awaited me. I must admit, for a large portion of those four months, I was gravitating towards meat and dairy with a lust and desire like it was my last day to live. The guilt and shame associated with consuming meat and dairy was palpable, but in my head, what consistently prevailed was an overwhelming feeling of limited time. The dominating argument that I won’t be able to have this food/drink item once I follow veganism, so I need to enjoy it while I still can. It’s a mindset difficult to describe, which strikes a certain feeling of scarcity, finality, and fear producing a powerful desire that makes you want to cling to your old diet even more tightly. For the duration of the postponement of my transition to veganism, before my move, I focused on the traditional aspects and familiarities of meat and dairy, which I had consumed all my life. The notion that it is “normal” to eat these things, instead of reminding myself of the animal it originated from and pushing the new information and the unpleasant things I had watched to the back of my mind. Before my move, I only managed to cut down on my meat consumption slightly, while my dairy intake, I believe, increased to make up for my self-imposed meat limitations. I was feeling weak and defeated for my embarrassing, pathetic display of self-control and seemingly nonexistent willpower.

Exhausting your willpower is a process researchers call “ego depletion”, in which everything, positive and negative, feels more intensely to you because your brain has lost some ability to regulate emotions. Thus, you respond more strongly to everything while cravings, frustrations, and desires build. In the short term, willpower is a limited resource where your mounting restraint and discipline overtax valuable space in your brain, making it that much more difficult to resist other temptation later on in your day. Fortunately, not all hope is lost for the ones, like myself, to put the “power” back into our “willpower”. Improvements can be made by frequent and consistent exercises in self-control. Observant religious people are a good example of this, often scoring higher in self-discipline than others, perhaps with personal religious practices involving willpower. One study found that students who were asked to pay attention to their posture for a week, performed better on other willpower tasks (not pertaining to posture) than students who had not been actively exercising control all week.

Therefore, all these areas in your life that require some form of mental effort, will help build up and strengthen that mental muscle of self-control within you. The more you practice willpower and put it to the test, the more successful you will be in resisting temptation in the future.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I will be beginning my day with the ultimate willpower exercise of passing the pastry counter, full of non-vegan delicacies at my regular coffee shop, with a new motivation that will hopefully extinguish my lingering urges to jump across the counter and devour each and every one of those buttery pastries. Best of luck in your willpower pursuits!

I think this is absolutely beautiful and genius as it gives a legitimate scientists perspective on animal rights with sheer and simple logic. To deny even listening to this would be folly if you consider yourself a human being.

Inside the Nation’s First Vegetarian Public School

A high-performing elementary school is taking a revolutionary approach to how students eat.

May 11, 2014 |

Thursday is always vegetarian, and sometimes vegan, in the cafeteria at Public School 244 in Queens, the nation’s first non-charter public school to serve only vegetarian meals. The 428 pre-kindergartners through third graders lined up at the salad bar and catered bins of jasmine rice, three-bean chili and steamed plantains, with an apple and oatmeal raisin cookie for dessert. None of the children, who live in the surrounding Korean and Asian-American neighborhoods of Flushing, seemed to clamor for the more typical school fare of hot dogs or fried chicken nuggets on that March afternoon. “We don’t necessarily want to promote a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, but you kind of get the message,” said one of the schools’ teachers, Christian Ledesma.

The idea to go meatless came about organically, so to speak, when teachers and staff at the 6-year old elementary school began paying attention to the lunches children were bringing from home. Eighty-six percent of the children are from Asian-American families, and most were toting vegetarian food in their lunch pails.

Principal Robert Groff, a former Teach For America corps member in the Bronx, co-founded the school around the idea of promoting a healthy lifestyle, which in turn bolsters academic excellence. It’s not about diet, Groff said, but about something broader. An early school partner was Fan4Kids, a nonprofit with corporate sponsorship that targets low-income elementary school children with lessons on good nutrition and activity.

The vegetarian emphasis in P.S. 244: The Active Learning Elementary School reflects what may be a growing trend outside city schools and across the country. Meat is becoming slightly less popular in the American diet in recent years. The Department of Agriculture reported that Americans consumed 12 percent less meat in 2012 than five years earlier. Forbes Magazine named high-end vegan food the number one food trend last year.

From 2009 to 2011, the percentage of vegetarian households rose to 5 percent, representing a 2 percent jump. Vegan diets doubled from 1 to 2.5 percent (equivalent to the number of people living in Los Angeles County). In addition, according to the a 2011 Harris Interactive Study commissioned by the Vegetarian Resource Group, an advocacy group, 17 percent of Americans consider themselves “flexitarian,” or those who elect a vegetarian diet for more than half of their meals.

Public schools for the most part have been slow to catch up. Still, in September last year, San Diego Unified School District adopted “Meatless Monday” in its elementary schools, when they serve plant-based meals to its kindergarten through fifth graders. Gary Petill is the director of the district’s food services, and said they jumped on the opportunity to educate young students about a plant-based diet. “We decided on K-5, because young children are learning lifelong eating habits,” Petill said. “We might get push-back in high school. With Meatless Monday, when the fifth-graders go to middle school, they may be more open to vegetarian options.”

In New York City, P.S. 244 is one of two public schools that serve vegetarian food only. The Peck Slip School M 343, located inside the former Tweed Courthouse, the Department of Education’s (DOE) headquarters in Brooklyn, is also offering a vegetarian menu. The school, which opened in September 2013, has classes from pre-K through the first grade. It plans to expand up to the fifth grade.

On one of the vegan menu days at P.S. 244, Groff wore a striped button-up shirt and a blue tie, his brown curly hair neatly arranged with hair gel. In his office is a bookshelf stuffed with folders. One pile is dedicated to visiting parents and media, and includes an invitation to family dinner night and a calendar that provides the cafeteria menu for every day of the month. Each day includes an “eat your colors” section—students are encouraged to eat a variety of vegetables, including carrot sticks, cucumber salad, and Brooklyn baked beans.

The folder also includes the school’s progress report. P.S. 244, on the corner of Franklin Avenue and Colden Street, received top marks in 2013 on standardized math and reading tests; it ranked 11th in the state. A healthy lifestyle focus, Groff believes, is an important element. During its inaugural year in 2008, students approached one of their teachers with a campaign. “They came up to me and said, ‘Look, we’ve been reading the nutrition facts on this chocolate milk, and it has as much sugar and high fructose corn syrup as soda!” said Christian Ledesma, who also serves at the school’s health coordinator. He worked with two advocacy groups to replace the milk. “In my mind, the chocolate milk was gone the next day,” he said. “That’s how fast it seemed.”

The school has grown in popularity with the community since it opened. Over the past two years, P.S. 244 received over 400 applications per year to fill 125 kindergarten spots. This year, it received 650 applications.

Since many of the students come from Chinese, Indian, or Muslim backgrounds, they are accustomed to a predominantly vegetarian diet at home, said the school’s parent coordinator. Riva, a third-grade student at P.S. 244 who said she hasn’t gotten sick since becoming a student at P.S. 244, doesn’t see much of a stretch between what she eats at home and what she eats in the school’s cafeteria. “In China, they serve almost the same kind of food as here,” Riva said.

“The vast majority of parents are on board,” Groff added. “Some are in the mindset of, ‘My kid will only eat those certain things,’ but when kids see their friends eating things, when they’re immersed in it, they’ll try it.”

Adopting a vegetarian menu at P.S. 244 required the support of community and advocacy groups like the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food. The non-profit introduces plant-based foods and nutrition education in schools. Amie Hamlin, the executive director of the organization, said having a vegetarian school in New York City was her idea. “I asked the school first, ‘Would you consider it?’ The whole purpose of that school is health and fitness—The Active Learning Elementary School.”

Hamlin recognizes that vegetarian diets are not always healthier, especially if they are cheese-based. “The reason P.S. 244 is a healthier menu is because half of the time, entrees are vegan,” she said. Acquiring accurate data on the nutritional value of school food is challenging, she said, because school surveys do not often ask the right questions. Asking if schools offer vegan or vegetarian options doesn’t provide much clarity.

Because all schools offer peanut butter and jelly, cheese sandwiches, or pizza, there are usually vegetarian and vegan options available. But if students select vegan options, Hamlin says, like brown rice, broccoli, and oranges, they are missing an essential component of a meal: the entrée. “The real question is, ‘Do you have a vegan hot entrée?’” Hamlin said. Diet, Hamlin believes, is important for student attendance, student concentration, and student behavior. “When kids eat a totally junky diet, they can’t concentrate as much,” she said.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers the national program for school food, introduced new standards for healthier meals during the 2012-2013 school year. A year later, news outletsreported that 524 schools (about 1.5 percent of those registered for federal subsidies) were dropping out of the national program because of cost. In other words, the cost of providing healthier meals outweighed the demand. If schools chose to opt out, and didn’t follow the new standards, they wouldn’t be reimbursed for free or low-cost meals. But most of the schools did meet the new standards.

When P.S. 244 first turned vegetarian, it did cost them a little more, said Lalita Kovvuri, the school’s parent coordinator. “But introducing a vegetarian option city-wide might have gotten those costs down,” she said.

Hamlin said it doesn’t cost schools more to provide vegetarian meals. “If it did, schools wouldn’t be able to do it,” she said, in an email correspondence. “All they are doing is replacing meat with beans or tofu. Both cheap, and beans are available through the commodities program, which means essentially free.” She added that because cheese, fruits and vegetables are on all menus, there is no cost differential for those foods.

Cafeterias aren’t the only place where schools are trying to improve nutrition. At P.S. 216 in Brooklyn, Principal Arturo Toscanini has his kindergarten through fifth graders grow a vegetable each month and then prepare a meal from it. The program, the Edible Schoolyard NYC, is run by a non-profit of the same name in two schools in New York City—P.S. 216 and P.S. 7 Samuel Stern in Harlem. In Brooklyn, the program grew out of a classroom and moved into a greenhouse funded by the school district. The greenhouse sits behind the school building on a half-acre organic farm that used to be a parking lot.

Liza Engelberg, the program’s education director, looks over the farm with pride. Plants are sprouting in neat rows marked by labels on sticks. Even thyme and magnolia have been planted to ensure the students have access to a diverse garden. The greenhouse includes a roomy, colorful kitchen and an office where Engelberg and her staff—made up of four teachers—work.

Each of the school’s 600 children cooks one dish a month in the greenhouse kitchen. The recipes change with the season. In the winter, for instance, students made soups. Now that spring is approaching, they are switching to bean dip. “Our focus is on seasonal, locally grown food,” said Engelberg.

“Eighty-seven percent of the kids try every recipe because they are attached to it,” said Engelberg. And almost all of those who try the food end up liking it, she added.

The edible schoolyard has no relationship with the school’s cafeteria. The idea is to teach children about the impact of farming and food choices. The kids, Engelberg said, are now calling it their “food footprint.” But since the children only cook what they grow, the recipes are both vegetarian and vegan. “We are thinking of having chickens so we can add eggs,” said Engelberg. She doesn’t readily see how poultry or meat could be a part of the project, but she admits that as a staff, they “do have conversations about it.”

“We are not demonizing other kinds of food,” said Engelberg, referring to children eating poultry and meat at home. She said she realizes the challenges public schools face, especially when so many children live in temporary housing and have little or no access to healthy food. “We try and entice them to eat healthy as much as possible,” she said.

She also said the curriculum is aligned to the Common Core, the new education standards being introduced in schools across the country. By that she means that the process of planting, nurturing, picking and cooking a fruit, vegetable or herb teaches students useful lessons in science, social studies, math and even literacy. When they farm they learn the science of plants and seasons, Engelberg said, while cooking can be a mathematical process. They include history by teaching about the “three sisters,” a Native American tradition of growing maize, squash and certain kinds of beans. “And reading a recipe and understanding it is about literacy,” she added.

This idea of using food or diet to teach larger lessons about health, environment and treatment of animals is an essential part of schools’ attempts to introduce and promote vegetarian meals. Two private schools slated to open in the fall of 2015—Simple Awakenings New York and the Solutionary School—are centered on the idea of “humane education.” Although New York State Law stipulates that schools teach humane education, it seems to be restricted to the treatment of non-human animals.

These schools, however, define the term broadly. “They’ve got to get people away from thinking that humane education is just about furry animals,” said Bill Gladstone, educational consultant for the Solutionary School. The school’s curriculum is still being drafted and Gladstone said teachers will focus on “environmental stewardship, cultural exchange, human rights, and animal protection.”

Simple Awakenings, on the other hand, is based on the Sanskrit concept of Sattva, or mindfulness. Kala Estrella, the school’s 26-year-old founder, envisions an approach that includes a “vegan/vegetarian diet, child-centered, play-based activities, attention to environment, and a compassionate approach with others and with oneself.”

Science is also becoming increasingly accommodating of vegetarian and vegan choices. The American Dietetic Association reports studies that show vegetarians have lower cholesterol levels, blood pressure, hypertension and even lower risk of contracting type 2 diabetes. The American Academy of Pediatrics is more cautious. It warns that nutritional balance is hardest when dairy products are absent altogether. Despite the intake of fruits, vegetables, cereals and legumes, they say strict vegetarians will likely need calcium supplements and pre-prepared food that is fortified with certain vitamins.

Dr. Sharon Akabas, the director of the Institute of Human Nutrition at Columbia University, believes it is dangerous to automatically associate vegetarianism or veganism with healthy. “You can be a Twinkie vegetarian,” Akabas said. She insists that children should be visiting the pediatrician at least once a year, especially if they are following a vegetarian or vegan diet.

There is one main concern for growing children, Akabas says. Parents must ensure that the number of calories in their child’s diet is sufficient. “The challenges are greater with veganism, because you’ve removed the food groups with vitamin B12 and calcium, and there can be less iron,” Akabas said. But she isn’t too concerned about the menu at P.S. 244, which doesn’t offer junk food. “The worst worry is there’s some kind of deficiency going on that might compromise growth or ability to focus. In general, if a kid is getting enough calories that aren’t coming from junk food, you don’t have to micro-manage the choices,” she said.

Some New York City schools are paying attention to the research supporting a vegetarian diet. The Office of School Food told school-stories.org that they are receiving more and more inquiries from schools asking how the schools can “promote vegetarian choices on the menu.”

It’s unclear if more schools will follow the route taken by P.S. 244. But students at the Flushing school aren’t complaining about their school’s decision to promote fitness and a plant-based diet. “We exercise a lot here, and we always go outside when it’s sunny,” said Andy, an 8-year-old third grader at P.S. 244. He shared that his class’ running club—the Mighty Milers—receives 50 books for the school if his team achieves an average of one mile per student. “In other schools they get fake meat, they even sell candy,” he said, shaking his head. “They want you to pay money for that stuff. For sugar!”

After studying political science and Spanish at U.C. Berkeley, Annette Konoske-Graf moved to Miami, Florida, where she taught ninth and tenth-grade literature in Little Haiti. She is now at Columbia Journalism School.

Aparna Allrui is a freelance print and radio reporter. Originally from India, she is currently ​based in New York, finishing up a graduate degree in journalism at Columbia University.

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Tamarind -Tamarindo=]

Not so easy to plant, trees take ten years to grow… BUT, they are super cheap to buy, either in the actual pod form which are fun to pull apart or the pre-separated tamarind pulp. Taste is nice and sweet, but not overly sweet, loaded with vitamins and nutrients, considered medicinal.

Great with lime juice and some cayenne. This is one of the primary ingredients for the sauce in Pad Thai!

Quinoa –

Grows like a weed, seriously, it grows so easily, try some in your backyard, you cold be pleasantly surprised! Young plants, from 2 to 8 inches can be used whole in smoothies as a super food.

As they get larger, use the leaves and compost the stem, once they start to seed, all the ninja vibe has gone to that part of the plant so wait till they are ready to harvest and eat.

Once harvested, clean them, or buy store bought and then cook as you would rice, but they take about half the time!

Considered a complete protein, meaning it has all the necessary amino acids, alkaline, no one really has an allergy to it that I know of, chap to buy and again, easy to grow!

Amaranth –

Again, grows like a weed, young plants, from 2 to 8 inches can be used in smoothies as a super food. as they get larger, use the leaves in salads or as a steamed dish which tastes great with a little tamari/soy/braggs and pepper, or whatever you would normally season your steamed veggies with, once they start to seed, all the ninja vibe has gone to that part of the plant so wait till they are ready to harvest and eat.

The seeds can most effectively be eaten by popping them. They will resemble tiny popcorns but are spheres. hey have little to no taste and can therefore be added to ANYTHING you wish to supercharge with vitamins, minerals and protein.

Allow your skillet to get very hot, add a few hand fulls of seeds, they will be tiny, cover and check often. Add to anything. Depending on the country, you can buy pre-popped amaranth extremely inexpensively.

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Look for the as it represents places that go above and beyond the call of duty, not only in what they offer, but how they go about offering it!

I have been biking for some time now and am happy to say that I finally came up with my top Veqan/Vegetarian/Plant Based eateries list, don’t know what took me so long actually. At any rate, know that I am the type who would rather cook for myself as I am EXTREMELY picky about not only what I eat, but how it is prepared, the portions I get ( I tend to be an “eater”), the service, I am, while on the outside a decent enough guy, internally I will speak to every last little nuance about my meal, which is why this list is so golden for any of you in the areas where the restaurants reside!

The Number One spot is currently and I am thinking will be forever inhabited by a wonderful place called:

The food they serve is so meticulously prepared and so well done, the ingredients, I am at a loss for what to speak to first, so I’ll tell you a story…

I went there a total of a few times in the short while that I stayed in Ventura. On the final time that I went, I was a bit tipsy and ordered the “chicken” sandwich. Now, I had at some point forgotten I was in a vegan eatery, i.e., you can not order anything that isn’t vegan, it simply isn’t there. My sandwich came and I began to eat with gusto as the taste was so wonderful, what could I do?!?

At some point I stopped and looked at what I was eaten and a cold dread crept through my veins, my god I thought, did they make a mistake and accidentally give me a real chicken fillet!?!

I immediately called over my wonderful waitress, who I think was the owner and quickly asked her if there was any chance they’d given me a real chicken and not my vegan sandwich.

She laughed and assured me that it was quite impossible and she was glad I was enjoying my meal.

Raw foods, wonderful salads, foods that mimic meat fares, great fries and a wonderful assortment of smoothies, drinks and teas are just what the doctor ordered. Prices for what you get are rad – 8-10 dollars and you leave feeling glorious!

No. 2 – Evolution Fast Food

What a place! Vegan fast food with options for raw main meals and deserts, even the soft serve ice cream is raw or regular!

So, to give you the best idea of what we have to offer, here is what I usually order each time I go, and yes, I share this with whomever is with me, please don’t think me a glutton, big eater, yes, glutton, not so much, unless I get into the pakalolo, then it can be dangerous=]

So, I get the swiss mushroom burger with guacamole and a side of bacon, large order of spicy chicken tenders, sweet potato and regular fries mixed with soft serve ice cream for desert. This in one of the few places that I even bother with a desert. I have become quite picky about my sugar intake and quality of what you get, not to mention, some of these vegan eateries give you a 7 dollar sliver of something or other and look at you like they did something great.

Not here – They use great ingredients and give you enough that you don’t feel confused about what just happened.

In addition to what I ordered, there are a variety of burgers to choose from, different patties available, different fries, drinks, salads, super food creations, smoothies, free wi-fi and some pretty cool art=]

No. 3 – Loving Hut

What a concept and idea! Started by Supreme Master Ching Hai, this has grown to a chain of restaurants [most major US and international cities] that not only promote a plant based lifestyle, but also the effects of mental focus on one’s life. The food is incredible and varied, with a definite Asian influence. Very inexpensive and wonderfully food with great service!

No. 4 – 105 Degrees by Matthew Kenney

This is the spot, one of the reasons that it is not at number one is due to the cost and the location. While I do love my Oklahomies, I’m just not a fan of the cold and large flat desolate spots…

The food was impeccable, this is a raw eatery, hence the 105 degrees, food taken above this temperature, say to 110, you are now slowly killing off the important digestive enzymes and other nutrients in the food. This is a “bad” thing as then your body has to create the enzymes for digestion and that is a whole ‘nother story.

So, what did I have…. I wish I would have started this sooner… I had lasagna, a salad, forgot which appetizer[s], tea and I think a beer, I was drinking at the time, it has been an on and off thing throughout this journey depending on the whims of my health and thoughts at the time, for now it is once again off and will remain so for the foreseeable future as I decided to go lush free for a year just because of the vast amounts of alcohol I drank while making wine and beer in Ensenada with my former partner on this ride!

Of this place I cold say the usual, you know, how the staff was superb, how very posh the place looked, how meticulous the kitchen was – an open view kitchen at that, but what really matters is this. After taking all this time write this for you, after all the places I have eaten at, this stands out some 2 years later. That’s my review=]

No. 5 Karma Kitchen

What an amazing story this is. I had the wonderful pleasure of being able to go to a Wednesday meditation put on by the founder and originator of the group Charity Focus which is now operating and expanding at a fantastic rate under the new name of Service Space – website here!

Karma Kitchen is now spreading across the globe and has many restaurants adopting this style of eating, you see, when you dine there, there are no prices on the menu, the food is ridiculously fantastic and at the end, you pay what you can. This money then goes towards the next person who comes to dine.

They have never operated in the red, always in the black, meaning, always at a surplus of money, which means we are good people when it comes to it aren’t we!

I am honored to have met Nipun and all his friends and family. I hope with my new outlook on things, I will be able to not only help out, but help to grow this network and organization as it is truly one of the most profound and honest organizations I have found to date!